Mountain biking near Gallup, NM

Chronologically this is out of order but that's ok, it's my blog and I just now decided to write it.

The middle of June was quite warm and very windy in Albuquerque so we decided to head to a little higher terrain and see what happened. Gallup here we come.

I had read and heard a lot about outdoor recreation opportunities near Gallup but we had yet to venture there. Singletracks.com listed a few rides in the area but the one that caught my attention most was the race course of the High Desert Screamer, also know as the Squash Blossom Classic, that I had previously read about on NMORS website.

The trail did not disappoint. We headed straight to the trailhead and I mounted up on Scotty while Jodi decided to take a walk. While I pedaled the 8 mile course Jodi got in over 4 miles of hiking along the same trail. Quite impressive.

The trail started climbing a small hill that got the blood pumping a little then turned in to very easy single-track for a while. The majority of the trail is easy with only a couple challenging hills. There is one hard right hand turn with a little bit of un-nerving exposure if you have a fear of heights. Luckily I do not so to me it made for a great view. There are a few areas with great views, a short easy section of slickrock and some very fast fun spots all mixed together.

If I lived closer I would definitely ride this trail often.

While looking for somewhere to camp on Saturday night we accidentally found Nutria Lake on reservation land. There are only a few designated camp sites around the lake and it turned out to be a quite peaceful (except for the drunks next to us) camp area with no artificial light which made for a great night's sleep.

The next day we explored around Gallup more then headed east and south into the Zuni Mountains to McGaffey to check out other trails I had read about. As we drove up the hill we were met by more vehicles hauling bikes than I had ever seen on any given day. We later found out that the 24 Hours in the Enchanted Forest race had just ended so some of the trailheads were still closed. We also discovered according to one sign that that some trailheads were closed due to state government budget cuts. But we did find the Hilso Trailhead open so we stopped and I mounted up again for a quick spin just to check it out while Jodi was on the phone with our granddaughter. I rode a six mile section of the previous 24 hour's race course just to get a taste of the trails.

This is an area I will definitely have to return to because there are miles and miles of trails to play on.

Ride the Rockies 2012

As much as I love mountain biking, partially because of my lovely Scott Scale 50, I have learned this year that I like road riding more than I ever thought I would. As the previous post states this is largely due to the trails in New Mexico being closed for a lengthy time due to fires in so much of the state and such a dangerous threat in almost all the state.

Another thing that caused me to be more interested in road riding was when in the border of my Facebook page I saw an ad for Ride the Rockies which I immediately "liked" and then spent hours on their website looking at the gorgeous photos of last years ride.

So, the first step was to start riding my cyclocross bike on the road on longer rides and throwing in a LOT of climbing. Step two, buy a road bike. Since I just bought the $1,300 cyclocross last year and we have other plans for expenditures this summer I put my new bike in lay-a-way at Cycle Cave. XL 2011 Scott CR1 Comp, all carbon, dual ring lovely, lovely ride. Can't wait to get my hands and other body parts on this baby!! Then the training will truly start!!

2011, crazy spring and summer in New Mexico

Photo: courtesy David "wanderingpops" Sims, one of the great road rides I experienced because I couldn't ride trails

The wind never stopped! The horrendous winds that plague New Mexico every spring were relentless all the way into July. Mid-spring Arizona's largest ever fire broke out covering much of New Mexico with often thick very smelly smoke. And just as it was beginning to dissipate what seemed like half of New Mexico caught fire.

Two of the fires, both in the northern half of the state, became the two largest fires ever recorded here. With ever changing winds there was never any way of planning where the smoke would be and where it would not.

And to bring it all to a head, the worst drought in the state's history comes along and fear of more of these huge fires forced the closure of practically every National Forest in New Mexico. Not a bad idea considering how thinly stretched the fire fighting capabilities have become. So finally the city of Albuquerque followed suit and closed the bosque, first leaving the paved trail open but finally shutting it all down entirely.

First of all, this is a pretty minor problem (except for loss of business for those who count on outdoor recreation and tourism and the entities who count on tax revenue from the same) compared to those unfortunate folks who lost their homes or were evacuated for several days, and the businesses in Las Conchas that were closed for over a week due to evacuations.

Secondly, come on!!! It's Albuquerque. There are so many miles of road riding here there is no reason (except on the worst days of smoke) to not keep building cardio and climbing legs so that when the trails open you can hammer faster and climb harder.

The forests will recover, homes can be rebuilt and trails will be re-opened. And I have discovered that I like road riding better than I ever expected. I hate it for the loss of vegetation for food and homes for the wildlife but fire is a natural part of progression so they will recover also.

Come on 2012!